Castellan Real Estate Partners filed plans for a new 23-story, 54-unit residential building at 7 East 30th Street in Nomad, Department of Buildings records show.
The company had previously planned to bring a 21-story building with affordable, full-floor studio apartments to 9 West 30th Street, at an empty lot directly next door, as The Real Deal reported. But according to Castellan CEO Rick Serrapica, the company intends to legally combine both lots and build one tower at the address.
The building Castellan filed for on Tuesday would measure just shy of 42,000-square feet, with units averaging just under 740 square feet. There’s a terrace slated for the rooftop, and the ground floor will have 2,142 square feet of retail.
The 7 East 30th site site was purchased from Manhattan Properties for $10.1 million in 2016. The NYC Partnership Housing Development fund acquired 9 East 30th Street for $10 million in 2015 and later transferred the deed to Castellan.
The Castellan development sites are around the corner from where Extell’s Gary Barnett had been quietly putting together an assemblage on 29th Street, but Barnett decided to put that on the market last year.
Castellan [TRDataCustom] is best known as an Upper Manhattan landlord and not as a developer. Founded by brothers Paul and John Salib, it has been the subject of tenant harassment and eviction investigations by the State of New York, and following these investigations it reached a settlement with tenants in 2014. A New York Daily News investigation in 2015, however, found that despite the settlement, Castellan was still on an eviction spree, even with a state-appointed monitor in place. The firm denied the allegations.
Clarification: This story was updated to include comment on the building plans from Castellan’s CEO.
(To view more properties owned by Castellan, click here)